DETROIT -- Detroit Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta is certainly playing like an All-Star. But it's still up in the air as to whether he'll actually be named one.

Peralta leapfrogged Texas' Elvis Andrus to move into second place among American League vote-getting shortstops, but lost ground on top vote-getter J.J. Hardy in the latest round of All-Star balloting results.

Peralta received 515,709 votes and moved up a spot in the voting tally, but lost ground on Hardy, who built a 700,000-plus lead over Peralta with less than two weeks remaining in the fan-voting race.

Fans can continue cast their votes until July 4, but barring a miraculous turn of events, it appears Peralta will not be voted the American League's starting shortstop.

"The kid (Hardy) in Baltimore is doing pretty good and it looks like he might get the vote from the fans," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "So that would hopefully put Jhonny in position to get the votes from the players."

Players are responsible for selecting eight pitchers, including three relievers, and one back-up player for each position. The second-place finisher will get the invite if the top vote-getter at a position has already picked in the fan voting.

"I would be disappointed if he wasn’t voted in by the players," Leyland said. "Does he deserve to make the All-Star team? At this point I would say the answer to that is yes."

Peralta leads all AL shortstops with a .327 average, 85 hits and 21 doubles. He also has seven home runs and 33 RBIs.

As it stands, only one Tigers player is in line to be voted a starter by fans. Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera increased his lead on Baltimore's Manny Machado and leads all vote-getters in the American League with 4,337,223.

Torii Hunter, who was ranked among AL outfielders, dropped to fifth behind Jose Bautista in the fourth spot. Prince Fielder, meanwhile, is a long shot to earn a second straight start at first
base as he trails Baltimore's Chris Davis by about 1.4 million votes.